Blackened Chicken Drumsticks

This is one of my favorite things to grill.  When I was a kid, I was a sucker for dark meat chicken.  I was pretty picky and didn't like the white meat.  So drumsticks were my very favorite thing.  I still love them today; but now I'm certainly more evolved in my tastes and will eat both white & dark meat.  But when you can buy 12 drumsticks for $2.67 at the grocery store, it's pretty hard to resist!

This preparation even made a believer out of a friend of mine.  We were grilling for the 4th of July last year, and there was the usual hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, and even some nice steaks.  Then I brought out these drumsticks and it was met with some skepticism.  I made a bunch of them because they're so cheap; and I offered some to my friend.  He declined at first.  Then maybe the smell of them, or the look of enjoyment on my face when eating them, convinced him to give it a try.  He liked it so much he had a second one.

I use a very simple seasoning mix of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Give a generous coating to all sides of the meat.  These have the skin on and bone in, so they will take a while to cook.  I like to have the flame up pretty high so the skin crisps up and even chars a little.  So the "blackened" is on purpose.  But keep a close eye on them.  Because if you burn the outside, you can have a very off-putting acrid taste that almost nobody will like.

Cook the drumsticks for about 5 minutes on all four sides.  Let them rest a minute or two because the bone will be really hot when you pick them up.  But when you bite through that crispy, well-seasoned skin you'll know when I like these so much.  The outside is crispy & delicious and the inside is moist and tender.  I really, really like these.

So next time you're thinking of what to grill, consider some chicken drumsticks.  You might be pleasantly surprised.